


Curiosity

by TheAxrat



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 01:34:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3190871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAxrat/pseuds/TheAxrat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Inquisitor had only wanted to view the Brecilian Forest's history as Solas would have done; She had not been expecting an ever-curious spirit to approach her so readily. Perhaps she should have known better. Still, simple curiosity was not so dangerous, right? The memory of two Dalish hunters disagreed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Curiosity

The Brecilian Forest was known to be a dangerous place, filled with old and dangerous magic. Still, that had not stopped the Inquisitor from riding forth. There were Dalish clans in the area; she wanted to speak with their Keepers regarding her discoveries in the Temple of Mythal. Spreading news of corrected lore was difficult at best, but she had a talent for finding her people when she wanted to. 

Dorian had been the one to spy the cave as they walked carefully through the trees. Within the cave were bizarre ruins unlike any Rinalae had seen; they were built similarly to human ruins, but there had been signs of her people having lived their, once. 

When a band of elven ghouls had shambled out from deeper chambers, Rinalae had made the call that the ruin was unsafe to explore further. She used her magic to seal the cave's entrance, so that - hopefully - whatever taint lingered in those walls could not spread. The last thing she wanted was her friends falling ill with the Darkspawn's plague. 

"There must've been a deep roads entrance in there somewhere. Maybe the darkspawn broke through during the Blight." She remarked, grimly, as they finished setting up their camp. The cave had been left well behind them, now. Curious though she was, Rinalae wanted nothing to do with that corruption. She was no Grey Warden, and she never wanted to be.

"It would not surprise me." Cassandra sighed as she sat heavily by the fire. The sun was setting to the west, though it was already dark in the shadows of the thick canopy above. 

"Sharp but shiny, shimmering, the pieces were more, once. They were ours." Cole mumbled, lingering on the edge of the camp. Intrigued, Rinalae listened to his reading. "Now they are dark, deadly, they made us sick. Now we hear the singing, too. It's loud and calling me-- _Creators make the singing stop_." 

Rinalae couldn't make anything of that, beyond that it was likely the last sane thoughts those elves in the ruins ever had. Cole had likely picked up on the old pain they had once felt; it mattered little. They couldn't do anything to help but send them to Falon'din. 

"Come back to us, Cole. We can't help them." She urged, gently. 

"I know."

It seemed there was nothing more to say about that. 

Still, she couldn't help but be curious. The ruin had a history that predated the Blight; that it was still standing proved that. Perhaps it had memories that were recorded in the Fade. She had walked the Fade with Solas many times before he had disappeared, seeing scattered memories of battles both ancient and not so ancient. Still, she had never managed to explore it as easily as he did. She lacked the experience he had to access history so readily.

Nothing was stopping her from trying, however. 

"I'm going to get some rest." She announced, retreating to the tent to do just that.

Rinalae had always been cautious in her dreams; perhaps too much so. The Keeper had always stressed to her how important it was to remember that spirits were dangerous, and that one day the Dread Wolf would come to her in dreams. In recent times, however, she had found she no longer feared spirits as being inherently dangerous, and she no longer feared the Dread Wolf's coming. Let him come, she had said to herself. He might not have been the dark entity the Dalish had feared, in truth. She had no way of knowing for sure, but she was adamant that she was not so easily tricked as to fall for any lies the Dread Wolf could tell her. 

She was more wrong than she ever could have imagined, but she did not know that.

Since her time learning from Solas about the true nature of the Fade, she found it to be far more fascinating than terrifying. She had seen what it could be at its worst, but she could not bring herself to fear it. 

Fear would, after all, invite a spirit like that Nightmare back to target her mind. 

The Fade was different in her dreams. Less dark and green and terrifying. Here, it was bright and wonderous. Whatever dwelled in this section of the Fade was likely not a threat. 

Or, it could've been a desire demon painting a pretty picture. That was something to be cautious about.

Rinalae thought it odd that the spirits weren't trying to mimic her memories already. Rather, she was instead allowed to wander the strange landscape of the Fade, with all its floating islands. She could see pieces of ruins dotting the area; remnants of memories of what was left of Elvhenan, she imagined. She saw many trees, as well, twisting about in fantastical shapes that were far from accurate. Wisps danced around occasionally, but for the most part, she was let be. The Dalish mage couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching her, however. 

"What manner of spirit are you, then?" She called to whoever - whatever - it was she sensed. A childlike giggle answered her question. It was hard to tell where it had come from, but seeing as the spirit was not in front of her, she turned. Rinalae was a little bit surprised to see that the spirit was actually standing not far behind her. 

The spirit took the shape of a boy; an elven boy, at that, perhaps eight or nine years old. She could see through him quite easily, but he was definitely _there_. He may have looked to be little more than a green silhouette of a person, but that was something. 

"A giggle doesn't quite answer my question." Rinalae smiled, crouching down to be at the spirit's eye-level. "Are you a spirit of youth, maybe?" It was a wild guess, but it didn't seem to far-fetched. Spirits embodied many things, after all; why not youth?

"Not quite." It replied. Its voice echoed through the Fade as it smiled at her. "Though some call me childish. They're not really right, though. Adults know me, too. Even those who were immortal sometimes knew me. You asked that question, so you know me, too. I am Curiosity." 

Rinalae's smile grew at that. Curiousity did not sound like such a dangerous thing, if one tempered it with caution. "Is this your area, then?" 

"It is!" He grinned. "The elves here are very curious, so there is lots for me to learn and to share. You're like them, too. You want to know things." 

"It's my duty to learn, yes." Rinalae sat herself on a small rock she hadn't realized was there before. Perhaps it wasn't there before. This was the Fade, after all. "I enjoy it, too. My people have a proud history. It deserves to be known." 

"Some of it is here." Curiosity told her, excitedly as he gestured around him. "Sometimes the elves look for it. I show them, though they don't know it's me. Those who do don't like to talk to me." 

Rinalae figured he must have meant the Keepers and their Firsts. Who else would be able to speak to a spirit like she was now? "The Keepers do teach that spirits are dangerous. They're probably worried you're dangerous, too." 

"They're right." He told her, matter-of-factly. "Sometimes I kill people." 

Rinalae felt a chill go through her veins. If that was true, then she knew she could be in very real danger. "What do you mean?" 

_An eluvian stood atop a central dias, its surface swirling with dark corruption. It loomed threateningly over a Dalish hunter as he struggled; something had reached forth from beyond the mirror's surface to grasp at his arm. A black and decayed hand pulled against him as he uselessly tried to resist._

_A second hunter, a woman, lay motionless on the floor beneath the dais as her companion reached for her in vain. He had seen her thrown from his side, seen her strike her head on the stone. What if she was dead? No, no, no, she couldn't be dead!_

_The hunter felt his footing slip against the stone as another set of hands reached out from the mirror to grab the straps of his armor. He lost his balance as they heaved, dragging him back to wherever the eluvian led. The hunter gave a final scream before he was lost for good._

_"MAHARIEL!"_

The vision ended abruptly, and Rinalae blinked dumbly as she realized what had just happened. The spirit had shown her a memory. 'Sometimes I kill people', he had said. The Inquisitor didn't have to try hard to figure that the young man had perished at the hands of whatever creatures had dragged him through the eluvian. The young woman, however... 

"Mahariel." She echoed, finally. 

"She was very curious. She didn't know it, but she knew me very well." Curiosity stated. "Then the bad thing happened. Her friend died, and she got sick. A human took her away to a place called Ostagar, past where I've ever seen, and when I saw her again, she left too fast for me to learn anything." 

"How was that your fault?" 

"I am Curiosity. The humans were curious. They wanted to see ruins. I led them to find the ruins." Curiosity told her. "The curious elves found the curious humans and scared them away, and the curious humans told them about the ruins that I showed them. The curious elves went deeper into the ruins and found the eluvian. They were curious about what it was, but when he touched it, it cost them." The spirit was quiet for a moment. "...sometimes, I kill people." 

Rinalae nodded, now, as she relaxed her shoulders. She understood. It was a lesson in being cautious, really. Without curiosity, they would never learn anything, of course. Blindly touching magical mirrors, however, was dangerous. She didn't need a spirit to tell her that. 

The Inquisitor paused a moment to ponder over Curiosity's story. He said that Mahariel - the Hero of Ferelden herself - had become sick from the mirror, causing a human to take her away to Ostagar. Though the details seemed lost in the spirit's retelling, she could at least figure out that Curiosity played a role in setting the Warden-Commander on the road to save Ferelden. She wondered what people would say about that if they knew. It was probably best they didn't. 

"Do you miss them?" Rinalae wasn't sure why she was asking. This spirit wasn't like Cole; this spirit was an embodiment of curiosity. It probably couldn't miss anything. Or, perhaps she was wrong and it could. She didn't know; she was not a spirit, and Solas wasn't here to correct her. Curiosity tilted her head at her, clearly thinking about it. "Or, maybe I should ask; do you wonder what happened?" 

"I do wonder about what happened to her." Curiosity replied, nodding solemnly. "I saw her once, later, and she was very different. She left very quickly, and I did not learn much at all." Rinalae gave the spirit a soft smile. 

"I have a couple of friends who met her." She told him. It? The spirit watched her, its eyes wide in wonder. It _was_ a spirit of curiosity, after all. Similar to a spirit of wisdom or knowledge, it wanted to gather as much information as it possibly could. "I could tell you what they told me." 

"Please do! I could give you something in return. I know you are curious about many things." 

Rinalae thought about it for a long moment. She could ask the spirit to tell her if it knew where Solas had gone, or if it knew where he had come from. Yet that had little appeal, in truth. Solas had left for a reason. He had deceived her for months yet nothing bad had come of it, truly. He had helped her, he had done his part, and he had moved on. Unfortunately, he had also broken her heart in the process. It was a wound she had stitched up and left to fix itself with time. She would be lying if she said it didn't hurt, though.

So, no, she wouldn't ask about him.

"You said those who were immortal knew you." She stated, as the spirit stared at her expectantly. "If I tell you of Mahariel, would you tell me of Elvhenan?" 

"It has been a long time, but I still remember." Curiosity nodded. "I can show you." 

Rinalae smiled at that. She shifted atop the rock, while the spirit casually moved to sit cross-legged before her. He started up at her with such childlike awe that she couldn't help but be reminded of a boy in her clan. Perhaps the spirit had intended that, and thus had purposefully shaped itself to mimic her memory of him.

"Well, as you know, the shemlen took her to Ostagar..."


End file.
